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Friday, July 29, 2011

The Fanfic Phenomenon

Yesterday, one of my favorite fanfiction writers updated a story that I’ve been reading for several years. I’m pretty sure it’s the longest fanfic in history, and I absolutely love it. I started thinking about how fanfiction helped me get motivated to write again, and I thought I’d share the story with you.

True confession time. I used to be addicted to soap operas. Well, not soaps plural, but one in particular. I recorded it on my VCR every day and when I got home from work, I watched my story. I got frustrated though, because my favorite couple just *wouldn’t* get together. After another teasing storyline, I decided to try to find a forum or something online where I could whine out my frustrations.

Jason Morgan, from General Hospital

I found a great one, and commiserated mightily with the other members. We were all fans of this star-crossed couple, and wanted nothing more than a brief HEA for them. Hey, it’s a soap. We all knew he’d cheat on her, or she’d fall in love with his dad or something.

But then, I saw this little topic labeled fanfiction. With a clickity-click of the mouse, I found a few stories written by forum members where they did have their HEA. I read everything I could get my hands on and discovered another little link buried in one of the stories. The author couldn’t post the story in the group because it wasn’t my favorite couple. It was my guy…and another guy! What’s this? *gasp and flutter* So of course, I did the clickity-click again, and after I shorted out my laptop from all the drool, I realized that I’d found something to read that I really liked.

There were only a couple “slash” stories written about my guy, but I had to find more. I found a site that hosted a bunch of different fanfiction and lo and behold I found my ultimate super favorite TV show in the list.

I read for days. I’m not kidding. Days. Couldn’t stop. And I realized…hey, I have a story I want to write. So that weekend, I sat down and wrote my first fanfiction. Twenty six thousand words of it, to be precise. I didn’t know what I was doing. But I posted it to the site anyway. And got 300 hits the first night, and multiple comments begging for more. Well, if that wasn’t enough to get my heart beating faster, I don’t know what was!

I posted a chapter every day for two weeks. Then someone told me I should post it over on another site. Alrighty, I thought, and off I went. It started a new obsession for me. I spent time reading and writing every day. Comments poured in. It was a real boost to the ego.

Two years later, I realized I was trying to force original ideas to fit the fanfiction mold. My best friend (met on one of those fanfic sites btw), told me to get off my duff and write my own. So I did. And a year later, here I am, polishing up my first original manuscript and hoping beyond hope to become a published author.

I know some folks give fanfic writers a lot of flack. Heck, some of it is deserved. But if it brings more people to writing? I say slash, slash, and slash some more!